Romania Architecture and Cinema

Romania Architecture and Cinema

Architecture. – According to top-medical-schools, the openness to modern architectural language in Romania can be traced back to the work of H. Creanga, who around the 1930s played a mediating role in the contrast between traditional architectural culture and the rationalist program (Hotel Carpati in Braçsov ; Patria complex in Bucharest; building in Balcescu boulevard in Bucharest). Alongside these, the other innovative interpreter was D. Marcu, author of most of the public buildings in the capital, such as the presidency of the Council of Ministers, the State Planning Committee, the Military Academy and some ministries, in which he went through a reinterpretation of the classical composition process.

After the war, the changed political-social regime, in an attempt to ensure the country’s economic independence, through a national industry (1st five-year plan 1951-55), produced great consequences on the urban-architectural level. Thus, in the context of the development of the architecture of Eastern European countries, Romania has assumed a particular and specific role, both for its long relationship with the French tradition in the use of reinforced concrete (the work of A. Perret had a strong influence there), and, above all, due to a planned industrial evolution, which involved on the one hand specific construction and new connected settlements, on the other a very strong urbanization, with all the consequences of the case..

In fact, urbanization has led to a growing increase in residential settlements, both towards new urban centers of an industrial nature, such as Uricani, Petrila, Vulcan, Lonea, Victoria, Onesti, Gh. Gheorghiu Dej, both towards the expansion of the capital Bucharest, which was most affected by demographic shifts, reaching 2 million residents. A special development plan was conceived for it, starting from the 1950s, which saw the construction of new residential complexes: Bucuresti Noi (1953-54); Balta Alba, Drumul Taberei and Jul-Scinteia in the Sixties. More recently there have been large new neighborhoods: Titan (340,000 residents); Taberei (200,000 residents) And Percemi (200,000 residents), Who raised the problem of the relationship with the old city center, for which there have been renovations since the 1960s. These new settlements are mainly characterized by uniformity and monotony due to the prefabrication system and planning criteria, set by specific state bodies. Among the architects working on this front we can mention M. Bercovici, C. Gherghiceanu, C. Alifanti, ID Elian. Greater interest from an architectural point of view is shown by the sector, also developed, of social services and structures for transport and communication. More expressive in it was the architectural language, which was often substantiated by the particular and wise use of large vaulted roofs or shells in reinforced concrete, typical in Romania, and found the best interpreters in N. Porumbescu and C. Lazarescu.

In addition to the impulse given to hospital and health buildings (Gh. Gheorghiu Dej hospital, 1965; Suceava hospital, 1966; several sanatoriums on the Black Sea coasts) and to that of a representative type (Palazzo della Repubblica by L. Popovici), many achievements have involved the intensification of social and cultural needs, such as the numerous houses of culture in different cities (Pitesti; Baia Mare), or, on a larger scale, the Amphitheater of Mamaia, the National Theater of Craiova and in the capital, the pavilion of the National Economic Exhibition, the Radio and Television buildings, the National Theater and above all the State Circus of N. Porumbescu, an arena covered by a thin, strongly undulating reinforced concrete vault.Among the latest constructions (1985) with cultural functions, the tower of the Palace of Science and Technology in Bucharest is worthy of note.

Lazarescu is the most important figure of contemporary Romanian architecture. He also distinguished himself as a theorist and popularizer, as well as having held the position of president of the Union of Romanian architects. Many of his works have concerned the intense development in a tourist and recreational sense in the coastal area of ​​the Black Sea, where the most important centers (Mamaia, Costanza, Eforie N., Eforie S., Costinesti, Mangalia N., Neptum) have been enriched of structures. In addition to several hotels and sanatoriums, Lazarescu designed the recreation centers of Mamaia, Eforie N., Mangalia. In the capital, his most important works are the Otopeni airport, covered with shell elements, and the Palace of Sport and Culture. With the Romanian Embassy in Beijing, the administrative building of Monrovia,

Cinema. – The first two fictional works made in Romania date back to the 1910s and both belong to the same director, G. Brezeanu. It deals with a sentimental méloAmor fatal (Fatal love, 1911), and a historical film, Razboiul Independentei (The war of independence, 1912). The subsequent production, totally entrusted to the initiative of individuals, was limited to a few titles, dividing itself, during the twenties and thirties, between the sentimental genre – Pacat (Sin, 1925) by V. Bieganski, Lia (1927) by J. Mihail – and the very particular one of the historical westernIanu Janu (1928), by H. Igirosanu, Chemarea dragostei (Romanian rhapsody, 1932) by Mihail. In 1934 the National Cinema Fund was born, intended to encourage production, which was joined a few years later by the National Film Office, a more organic institution that rationally managed to plan the production of documentary and fictional works. The first results were seen starting from the fifties, and were consolidated in the following decade. In the face of a production that achieved remarkable results on a national level, international recognition was very rare, denied to a cinema that has often expressed itself through films that combine historical elements with Romanian legends and traditions. However, there are exceptions, represented in particular by three works that can be counted among the highest points of Eastern European cinema of the sixties: Diminetile unui baiat cuminte (The morning of a wise boy, 1966), by A. Blaier ; Padurea spinzuratilor (The forest of the hanged men, 1964), by L. Ciulei, prize for director at the Cannes Film Festival; Reconstituirea (La ricostruzione, 1969), by L. Pintilie.

The seventies saw the birth of a new generation of filmmakers, who while not abandoning the inspiration linked to popular culture and traditions manage, from a stylistic and thematic point of view, to characterize their works with important signs of novelty. D. Pita, M. Veroiu, M. Daneliuc, A. Tatos, are some of the new directors in this period, who will also be present in the following decade. On an international level, Pita, author of Concurs (Concorso, 1982) and Pas in doi (Paso doble, 1985), among other things, and Tatos, director of Duios Anastasia trecea (Dolcemente, Anastasia passava, 1979) have achieved the highest results. and Intunecare (Oscuramento, 1985), whose works have been appreciated in numerous festivals. After the collapse of the Communist dictatorship (1989), the recovery of freedom of expression allowed the greatest talents to represent the dramatic situation of the country. Hotel de lux by Pita, Patul con ^ jugal (The Marital Bed) by Daneliuc, Ramânerei(Forgotten by God) by L. Damian, etc., entered into lively polemics with the new, ambiguous post-communist establishment. The incisiveness of the style and the corrosive irony are proof of the vitality of a cinema committed to overcoming the economic crisis of Eastern European cinema in the nineties.

Romania Architecture